So...where to begin...I've been apart of the org for awhile just haven't been much of a talker, more of a watcher per say and reading threads trying to catch up and learn as much as i can. So the story goes, i got my 2006 PSD about a year ago. Completely stock had around 50k miles on it. Needed a diesel truck to tow and decided on the Ford truck, look the best imho and my friend had one so i was kinda pushed to get one. Anyways off to the modding as soon as i bought it, got an exhaust MBRP 5" turbo back exhaust w/ muffler.
Exhaust - MBRP 5" Turbo Back Exhaust w/ Muffler
Overall opinion, sounds great, good design, fairly easy to install, some modifying was required to get it to fit on my Supercab w/ 8ft bed. but nothing too serious. MBRP also forgot to cut slices in the connecting downpipe flange so when i went to tighten with the U bolt clamps it would not tighten, that was an easy fix with the metal cut off wheel
Next step was to buy a programmer! jumped on the ORG and used the search function found that the SCT Xcal 3 was one of the best for our trucks. So now the decision was to find out who's tunes i was gunna get!
Ended up making a post asking what tuner i should go with. Ended up going with Spartan Diesel after some convincing. He also had a great deal on the SCT XCal 3 w/ tunes so i jumped on it.
Spartan Tunes - Hybrid Race, Economy, Aggressive Tow
Overall impression when talking with guy at spartan, knew what he was talking about, got the tunes to me that same day i got my SCT and i got him my strategy codes. Hybrid race was a decent tune, great for gas mileage if you kept your foot out of it. Spartan's hybrid race had good mid range timing values and it gave the truck more power with less boost, which would equal better fuel mileage basically. For the driving i do in my area, their is alot of stop and go traffic, traffic light to traffic light, and alot of traffic if you were to get stuck on the highway, and the tune allowed me to keep boost low and use more engine power. One problem i had was transmission characteristics were really BAD at WOT. My truck would jump back and forth between shifts and hesitate. So i called him and he sent me an update...it was a little better but overall...wasn't very happy with the tune and it was impossible to get a hold of him and have him update my tunes. I decided it was time to look into another tuner. so that's when i called DJ's Diesel
DJ Diesels Tunes - Looney Tune, Street, Street Smoke, Tow w/ brake, economy...
DJ's and Viv were great to deal with they were very helpful, and i ended up going with their unlimited tunes package. Looney Tune was great on the street, shifted great, but it did not lock up the torque converter like most of the other tune i had experienced, like the one from spartan, that was the only thing that really bothered me. I ran the truck at the track and was able to net a 14.1 @ 92 or 93 mph i believe. Overall was happy but still thought the truck had more in it. DJ's and Viv though overall were great people, i had some problems with my truck and DJ helped me out alot to pin point what may be wrong with it.
After having the tune's on the truck for quite a few months, towing my race car back and forth from the track and to NC and other road trips here and there, i ran into a few problems with my truck. At partial and full throttle, the truck would break up sorta, like hesitate very slightly. It was almost like on a gas truck if you were to turn a spark plug off for a millisecond and cause knock. But the truck wasn't knocking. So i talked with a friend of mine who is a diesel tech and he said that my EGR prob needs to be serviced. So i got that taken care of and deleted my EGR completely.
After that, the next mod i decided to tackle was the head studs!
everyone knows how hard that is to do. I didn't blow any of the gaskets on the head, but i had pushed a little coolant right near the reservoir. You could see it on the hood.
After some more reading on the ORG. I saw that innovative diesel was a very respectable shop by the majority of you guys. So i said why the hell not. Lets see how their tunes compare. I called up the guys over at Innovative Diesel Performance and we talked for at least 30 minutes on the phone. (sorry to any of you guys who were trying to call them, i know they only have 1 phone line it seems) But they were great guys to deal with i told them the entire story of what had happened and what not and they once again sent me 3 tunes. I also like them because they were local, so down the road when i get more serious with the truck, i will def be taking a trip up to them to get a custom tune.
Innovative Diesel Performance - Extreme Race, Extreme Street, Tow w/brake
Overall impression, great guys to deal with. If i could, i would talk to them for hours, since the whole diesel thing is a very new thing to me, i am a certified EFI tuner, but diesel like i said is very new for me, and def something i want to learn. I ended getting those 3 tunes i listed above. Overall impression on the Extreme Race was that it was a great file, shifts kinda awkward, but has ALOT of power in the mid range and top end. As soon as i started driving with this file i knew it was great for gas mileage just like the Spartan Hybrid Race. But again i had some problems with WOT shifting, when I went to 4HI launch my truck it would hesitate during the shifts and the truck would sounds like its dropping itself in gear when it shifted to the next gear. Very hard to explain what its doing. I decided to go to the track with this file they sent me. I am a firm believer in seeing what these parts and tunes will do in actuality. But i went to the track, launched it in 4HI and had some traction problems. I was launching it around 20+ psi and it hopped a little and spun the tires. Tires were at around 40psi compared to the 75-80psi they see from day to day driving. But the fastest time i was able to net with the Extreme Race file was a 14.4 @ 93 mph. I know this file for a fact should easily crack into the 13's. But the truck was shifting very strange, like it would hesitate and then slam the next gear but it was not smooth.
So i decided to run the Extreme Street at the track for my next pass. This file on the other hand does not lock the torque converter up. It is a nice file for messing around on the street, because the power is always handy. As soon as you let off the throttle is lets the rpms drop no matter what cruising mph. Which makes it nice for roll racing and the every now and then speed bursts down the highway and from a light. But this tune is def worse for fuel mileage. I can watch my MPG decrease when using this tune. Launched the truck at the track though full tilt 20+ psi again in 4HI. The truck spun the tires a little and then hooked. It ran a 14.3 @ 93 mph....i was like wtf...
so i tried not to get too upset, went home and prepared to call innovative diesel the next day. Got a hold of them and he told me to send an email over and he will look over the tune and adjust a few things. He got the tune back to me later that night and i loaded it up and went out to my local straight away down the st from my house and launched it and it dead hooked (ALWAYS ON THE STREET, NEVER THE TRACK) shifted to 2nd great, from 2nd gear to 3rd gear was def better, and then 3rd to 4th gear you could still feel the same as before bucking back and forth? and 4-5th i believe it was the same as 3-4 but not as bad since its a higher gear. I emailed them back and they said they are going to look it over again and get it correct for me. Innovative diesel though has def put the effort towards getting me the correct file and figuring out this problem. They reassured me that my truck should be shifting flawlessly with this program. They also recommended i get a reflash at the dealer, he thinks my trucks PCM/TCM strategy is not correct.
Overall all the tunes i have had, have their own special perks. All of them make close to the same power and are very impressive. I just like to see how the tuner decides to put the power at what RPM and etc. Overall i am very happy with my PSD!
But anyways yeah...that's my story...lol
Ben Y
10-07-2008, 04:58 AM
A years worth of modding in 1 thread, from exhaust, tuners, headstuds! REVIEWS!
I have the same truck, and the extreme race tune from ID. My truck shifts flawlessly, and has awesome power! I'm sure that Eric or Ted will get you set up, they are very stand up guys. I don't know that launching at 20+ psi is the thing to do though, I've heard that launching at 10-12 psi is better, I could be wrong on that though. That's the number I used, although I don't have any track times for you, I know it shifts awesome and gets good traction. I wish I had the cash to do studs on my truck 
Linear Mode
